Valerie gently caught her shoulders and embraced her. “No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to hear that. I never should have talked to Cam about this here.”

“But you’re not sorry for asking her to leave you behind, are you. I thought you said you loved me.”

“Oh God, I do,” Valerie said desperately. “But can’t you see, my whole life has been leading to this point, and I couldn’t live with myself if Cam or one of the others suffered for the mistakes that I made.”

Diane caressed Valerie’s cheek. “You don’t get it, do you? Loving someone means forgiving yourself for the past and living for the present. And the future. We all have regrets, darling.”

“I’ve always operated with the knowledge that my life is expendable.”

“Well, it isn’t anymore.” Diane kissed her softly. “Please try not to forget that.”

Valerie took a deep breath. “All right. I’d better go.”

“You won’t… do anything without telling me, will you?”

“No. We’ve still got time.”

“Of course we do,” Diane said fervently. “Of course we do.”

“Yes?” Matheson said when his phone rang.

“We’ve arranged to meet.”

Matheson smiled. “Run it down for me.”

He listened, making a few notes on a notepad with the motel’s name and logo stamped at the top. After a moment he said, “Nice work.”

“There’s still a chance we could bring her over. And she’s got an inside channel to several targets.”

“You might be right. Let’s weigh the options.”

“Okay, let’s get started.” Cam walked briskly to the table, making eye contact with the agents already assembled. Stark and Valerie sat side by side across from Felicia and Savard. “Agent Lawrence, why don’t you fill us in on your conversation with your handler.”

If Valerie noted the formality, she didn’t show it. “Henry and I made contact at 0330 and spoke for less than five minutes. We agreed to a rendezvous at 2300 tomorrow.”

“That doesn’t leave us a lot of time,” Cam commented.

“I realize that, but he initially wanted to schedule the meet for tonight, and it would not have been unusual for us to rendezvous with such little lead time. Twenty-four hours was as much delay as I thought I could manage without rousing his suspicions.”

“We’ll work with it,” Cam said. “Location?”

“The extraction point we used when I left the island the last time.”

“The beach here?” Stark said sharply. “No way. We’re not letting hostiles onto the island while Egret is on site.”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t clear,” Valerie said quickly. “Not on the beach, but where the extraction vessel was anchored.”

“On the water,” Savard said, making it a statement. “You’re going to meet him at sea.”

“Yes. I’ll take my boat and we’ll rendezvous approximately a mile out.”

“So he knows you’re at Whitley Point,” Felicia said.

“He does. He asked if I had contacted Cameron. I said I had and confirmed my location when he asked.” She glanced briefly at Cam. “I had to assume that he already knew. A lot of small planes pass over here every day, and he could easily have aerial surveillance photos. If he knows I’m here, or that you are, I didn’t want to be caught lying to him.”

“Whose idea was it to rendezvous at sea?” Cam asked.

“His.”

“It’s a trap,” Felicia said. “He can sink you out there and make it look like weather or a mechanical problem.”

Valerie shook her head. “Not before he meets with me. I told him I didn’t trust Cameron. He’ll want all the intelligence he can gather on Cameron’s operation before he burns his connection with me.”

“Smart,” Cam observed. “He’ll want to talk to you. He’ll want to know what we might suspect about him or Matheson.”

“That’s what I think, yes,” Valerie said. “That would be typical for this kind of situation. A brief verbal information exchange.”

“What about putting me below deck on Valerie’s boat, Commander?” Savard asked.

Cam shook her head. “He’s going to search.”

“Can you at least get him onto your boat?” Savard asked Valerie. “We can rig cameras and microphones to monitor you there, but if you have to board his, we’ll be lucky to get audio.”

“Will he search you for a mic?” Felicia asked.

Valerie shrugged. “I don’t know. He never has before, but the rules have obviously changed.”

Cam held up her hand. “We can’t depend on him coming aboard Valerie’s vessel. We’ll need long-range satellite tracking. Mac can coordinate that from here.” She looked at Stark. “You’ll need to pull people from Tanner’s day crew to augment your night shift. We can’t be certain they won’t try a dual assault, and you and Mac will be tied up coordinating communications.”

Stark stiffened. “Mac doesn’t need me to assist. I can go with the ground detail, Commander.”

Cam shook her head. “Not with Egret on site. You need to be here. If something goes wrong, you’ll have to evac her quickly. I’d suggest you make contingency plans to get her back to the White House, but that’s your call.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“We’ll have to go without visual if Valerie boards Henry’s vessel,” Cam said with a nod to Savard, “but I want audio surveillance that Henry won’t catch even if he looks. Wires are too risky if he does a body search.”

“He’s not going to have the equipment to look for an implantable,” Valerie said. “If we get it in by tomorrow morning, the puncture site should be very difficult to spot as little as twelve hours later.”

“A transdermal receiver?” Savard said, her eyes brightening with anticipation. “How are we going to get it? That’s the kind of stuff only the DOD has, and even that’s just a rumor.”

“It’s not a rumor,” Valerie said.

“What’s the range?” Felicia asked.

“1000 yards.” Valerie glanced at Cam. “He may see you at that range.”

“Possibly,” Cam said. “But we’re close enough to fishing and shipping routes that there will be plenty of water traffic, even at night. We’ll run without lights as much as we can.”

“That’s quite a distance if we have to extract quickly,” Savard said.

“Once Valerie and Henry rendezvous, he’ll be occupied and we’ll be able to drift in closer.” Cam cut her eyes to Valerie. “A minute. That’s likely to be how much time we’ll need to get aboard if you signal. Two, tops.”

“Understood,” Valerie replied with a faint smile. “That’s a very acceptable margin.”

“With respect, Commander,” Savard said, “that’s a long window.”

Cam didn’t disagree. Even sixty seconds could be a death sentence if the operation went bad. “We’ve got thirty-six hours to cut the margin. Let’s get working.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Friday

“You don’t have to leave right away, do you?” Diane sat on the bed watching Valerie dress. “It’s not even nine o’clock.”

Valerie hesitated, still not used to disclosing the particulars of an operation to anyone. Of course, before Diane, there had never been anyone close enough other than Cam. Now, even though she would trust Diane with her life, she felt uneasy discussing the work she did. She had only just returned from spending the day finalizing the last details of the plan with Cam and Savard, and her mind was completely engaged with what was to come. It occurred to her then that there were reasons intimate relationships were discouraged for agents such as herself. The needs of others were a distraction. Life was a distraction.

Forcing herself to focus on Diane, Valerie found her looking more pale than usual. She knew Diane hadn’t slept the night before, even though she had tried to pretend she was sleeping. Eventually they’d both admitted they were awake and had made desperate love until morning, when Valerie had silently slipped away while Diane slept.

“I want to be at the rendezvous point well before he arrives,” Valerie said.

“What about the others? They’ll be with you, won’t they?”

“They’ll follow a short time later. Don’t worry, they’ll be there long before anything happens.”

“Can I come with you to the marina?”

Valerie shook her head as she tucked her long-sleeved T-shirt into her jeans. “I’m riding down with one of Tanner’s crew and they won’t be coming back here.” She kissed Diane softly. “I don’t want you getting marooned out there in the middle of the night.”

“I don’t mind waiting.” Diane rose and clasped Valerie lightly around the waist. “I’m going to go slightly stir crazy waiting here.”

“You need to stay here,” Valerie said gently, pulling Diane close. She brushed her mouth over Diane’s ear. “It’s important that you stay close to Blair in case you have to leave quickly.”

Diane stiffened. “You mean if something goes wrong out there.”

“There are any number of reasons why Stark might want to move you both, and it won’t necessarily mean that anything has gone wrong. Just promise me you’ll do whatever Stark says.”

“I’m not leaving here without you.”

“You may have to. Please, love, I need to know that you will do what Stark says.” Valerie cupped Diane’s cheek. “I need to know you’re all right so I can concentrate on doing this thing. Can you help me?”

Diane took a deep breath. “Yes. But promise you’ll call me or come find me as soon as you can?”

Feeling Diane tremble, Valerie murmured softly and kissed her. “I won’t disappear. I won’t do that to you again. No matter what.”

Diane nodded. “Where’s your gun? You’re taking your gun, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” Valerie released Diane and went to the dresser where she kept her weapon. She clipped the holster to the waistband of her jeans. “He’ll expect me to be armed.” She didn’t add that he might also ask her to relinquish it as a show of good faith. Diane didn’t need more to worry about.

“I’m sure there are things I should be doing or saying, but I forgot to ask Blair for pointers,” Diane said shakily.

Valerie gathered her close again, drawing deeply of her scent, imprinting the shape and feel of her body and the way she fit so seamlessly into her own waiting places. “You don’t require any advice on giving me exactly what I need. I love you.”

“I love you too. I’ll see you soon.”

“Yes you will,” Valerie said gently. She kissed her and was careful not to make it feel like goodbye. She would not leave Diane with that memory.

Cam reached for her shoulder holster but Blair got to it first and held it up so Cam could shrug into it. She pressed against Cam’s back, caressing the tops of her shoulders and down her arms. When she reached her hands, she slid her fingers between Cam’s.

“Tanner was here earlier. I think she wanted to come with you.”

Cam shook her head. “We’re using more civilians than we should already, but since I know I can’t keep Tanner from sending her people out on the water to do perimeter surveillance, I asked her to head up that part of the operation. But there’s no way I’m letting her get anywhere close to Henry.”

“I wish you didn’t have to get close either,” Blair said, meeting Cam’s eyes in the mirror over the dresser. What she saw made her tighten her hold on Cam, wrapping their joined arms around Cam’s middle, as if she could keep her safe within her embrace, forever. “You’re worried about something. What is it?”

“The problem is we can’t really get close enough,” Cam said, “so we’re going to be relying on some pretty dicey technology. That’s not the way I like to do these things.”

“No, I know,” Blair murmured. “You like to be right there yourself. Is it selfish of me to be glad that you’re not going to be able to stand in front of her if someone starts shooting?”

Cam eased out of Blair’s embrace and turned. “No, it’s not selfish. I wouldn’t feel any differently if the positions were reversed. This is just one of those times when it’s actually better to be close to the line of fire.” Cam kissed her before walking to the closet to retrieve her windbreaker. “But we have an experienced team, and with Stark and Mac here coordinating and Tanner’s people on the water, we’ve got all the bases covered. It’ll be fine.”

“Where’s your vest?” Blair said sharply.

“In the truck.”

“Tell me you’re going to wear it.”

“I will.” Cam grabbed Blair and kissed her again, harder this time. “We’ll need to debrief as soon as we’re done, so it might take awhile before I can call. Don’t worry, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

She stepped back, but kept a grip on Blair’s forearms. “If for any reason Stark wants to evacuate, it might be tomorrow or the next day until we reconnect.”

Blair narrowed her eyes. “Why might Stark want to evacuate?”

“We don’t think Matheson will try to hit here, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.”